Independence, Missouri, to Neosho, Missouri

240 Miles

2879 Total Miles

We had another late start today. We left our motel at around 8:30 and went out in search of a real breakfast. Motel continental breakfasts are nice and all but we needed more. The one thing we didn't need, after yesterday, was gravy.

After breakfast we set out for the Truman Presidential Museum and Library.

The Truman Library is done very well. Our favorite exhibits were an exact replica of the oval office during Truman's presidency and the original "The Buck Stops Here" desk plaque. The library holds all the official papers of the Truman presidency and it an important source of research into the events of that period. In one of his letters to Bess he threatened to move the White house to Key West.

Cleve, Harry & Bo

We finally made our way out of Independence a little before noon. It was hot. And it got hotter. We stopped every 45 minutes or so to re-soak our water vests. But, and this is important, it wasn't raining.

We stopped in Diamond, Missouri, for lunch at the Fast Dine restaurant. Those of you familiar with Nashville's capitol hill area know of the Southern Cafe, a traditional southern meat and three owned by a Korean family. The Fast Dine is a meat and three owned by a Chinese family that does them one better, it also serves chinese food, We avoided the temptation to mix meat loaf with sesame noodles.

We overate at the Fast Dine. A big mistake while riding exposed to such a hot sun.

We were grateful to find a brand new motel in Neosho that promised high speed interest and cheap rates.

Nebraska and Missouri have not been the most exciting places to ride. We have done our best to seek out interesting roads but,as we mentioned a couple of days ago, this ain't Colorado. We are now only 40 miles or so from Arkansas. Tomorrow we ride in the Ozark Mountains. We hope the Ozarks provide us some great views and fun twisty mountain roads. It might help if we also find some cool mountain air.